


Destiny

by thedas_scribe (wshall)



Series: More Than A Commander [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: 2175 Aeia, Akuze, Colonist Shepard, Eden Prime, F/F, F/M, Gen, Hugo Gernsback, ICT, Interplanetary Combatives Training, Mindoir, Multi, N School, Normandy - Freeform, Other, Sole Survivor Shepard, aeia - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-05-12
Packaged: 2018-09-27 00:16:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9938255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wshall/pseuds/thedas_scribe
Summary: The Life of Marley Shepard...in five parts...publishing as I write.





	1. 2170: Mindoir

**Author's Note:**

> A summer party turns deadly for the colonists on Mindoir.

It was a beautiful evening on the southern reaches of Mindoir's colonial sector. The sun cast a golden orange glow about the communal area, a wide open space before the seven main sections of the colony. Colored lights flashed, bright streamers strung over everyone there. Hot coals and barbecue hovered in the air like elegant fingers signaling anyone with empty bellies to come and enjoy -- and people were. Music and laughter filled the ears, bodies moving to the sounds of a live indie rock band with stringed guitars, a synthesizer, and a drum set made out of wood and real animal skins. 

Marley Shepard was in her element. Her long honey brown hair was tied back in a loose pony tail and swayed as she did, a wry smile washed over her completely relaxed face. Eyes closed, just feeling the moment between bites of a real angus beef burger that was garnished with tomatoes, lettuce, Dijon mustard, and even cheese. In her other hand was a mug full of chocolate stout disguised as a mug of fresh brewed root beer. Her dad would kill her if he found out, but her mother knew. All she asked of her daughter was that she stay nearby, to which Marley agreed. After all, she was sixteen, now, and how could she leave the speaker she was standing right in front of when the band was nailing its covers of The Smiths, David Bowie, New Order, and the like. One thing was certain about humans and their music, and it was that music never got old, regardless which millennium it was from. The inhabitants of Mindoir loved the 1980s most. 

A light hand rested on her shoulder. It was Eliza, one of her classmates, specifically the tall frail blonde girl who moved like water, with ice blue eyes and hair as fine as her features. "Marley, your eyes are really green tonight!" Her voice was high-pitched and geeky, a combination that was both annoying and alluring to the stronger-framed and shorter Shepard. 

"Thanks, Eliza! You look beautiful tonight, too!" That was definitely the beer talking, but Marley agreed, so she didn't care. She had always wanted to say that to the girl. When Marley took the last bite of her burger, Eliza surprised her with a kiss on the cheek. She gasped, almost choking on the burger. Her whole body flushed with warmth, and her cheeks turned bright red. She swallowed what was left in her mouth, and swigged two gulps of the stout, closed her eyes, and turned and kissed Eliza on the lips. The band was just beginning 'Just Like Heaven' by the Cure. 

The two began to dance together, getting close enough that it caught Marley's father's attention. "Ok you two, break it off." 

Marley was embarrassed. "Dad!" 

"Do I smell alcohol?" Her father yanked the near-empty mug from Marley's hand and sniffed. "Marley Meek Shepard! Go home!"

"But Mom said --"

"NOW."

She was humiliated. "Yes, Dad. I'm sorry, Eliza." Her friend nodded as she turned and walked straight to her family's unit. She entered the code to get in, and didn't bother to turn on the lights as she half-staggered into her room. She was feeling the effects of the alcohol. Perhaps it was good timing that her father busted her when he did. She could have gotten out of line with Eliza. That would have been horribly bad. Her cat, a blue-eyed white maine coon named Angel, leaped into her lap when she sat on the side of her bed, purring like a tractor. "Hey baby." Marley wanted to cry, but she didn't. Her mom always said it was better to own a situation than feel bad about it. Echoes of 'Come on Eileen' seeped into her room. How fitting.

It was during the opening chorus that she heard the snare tapping out of step. Sometimes in two taps, sometimes in three or four. Then she heard shouting. Then screams. "What the hell?" Marley looked through the kitchen window that overlooked the walk path to the park. There were armored batarians with large guns shooting some of the people and grabbing others. She saw one put his pistol to a colonist's head, and looked away as she heard the shot. She looked around the house for her father's guns, but they were locked. She tried her omni tool, but it wasn't advanced enough to pick locks -- or she wasn't yet smart enough to figure out how to unlock it. She remembered a hollow wall in her room, where the family would go during the massive dist storms, and forced it open. Angel walked in as soon as she opened it, but the door stuck when she tried to close it. "Come on, please close…" She pulled and yanked and pushed and banged, but it would not budge. "Oh no…oh please, no."

She hurried down the narrow stairwell into a wide-open dugout, where there were stores of dried and powdered foods and enough water to last a couple of weeks for a family of three. The sound of movement was getting louder, closer, though still far off. "Please, god…help me." 

"Look up." 

She did, and spied an open vent in the top of the far wall, and climbed atop a stack of buckets to squeeze into it. It was a humidifying vent that lead at least half a mile out of the commune, so it would be at least 3/4 of a mile to crawl through. Keeping it cleaned out was one of Marley's monthly chores, and she was grateful that she'd just done it three days ago. She kept her mouth covered to keep from inhaling too much watery air. Her cat climbed under her shirt, resting on her back while she inched forward on her belly, careful to avoid the exposed nail heads. By the time the footsteps and voices were in her family's unit, she was too far away for them to hear her. "Thank you," she thought.

"Any time -- I can't have you dying, yet."

She felt awkward that the voice was as obvious as it was. She always imagined a god to speak in more obscure methods, like little more than a whisper. This was as if he were talking directly to her.

It took at least an hour to get to the other end of the vent, past the hub humidifying generators and just below the ground-level fresh air intake pipe, which was a large cylindrical structure that was about five feet in diameter. The shooting stopped for the most part about fifteen minutes ago, and there were now sounds of hovering engines, perhaps shuttles. She dared not peek through the grates to see what they were. She sat down, trying to get comfortable, and checked her omni tool for messages, ensuring that the sound emitting from it would be muted. 

She pulled up the holographic keyboard and sent a text to her great aunt, Hannah, who was an Alliance Navy admiral serving on Arcturus Station. She wrote:

Hannah. Marley. Mindoir needs help. Shooting. Batarians. Bad. Please come. I am hiding. They can't find me here. Please send help. 

Almost instantly, she got a response. 

"Help is on the way. Stay in place. I love you."

Marley was scared, but her eyes welling up was a body function. At least, that was how she reasoned it at the moment. Eyes were dry. They needed to water up. Her cat rested patiently in her lap as she attempted to gather herself. She took a deep breath and sighed. With a whisper, she asked, "can I sleep?" 

"Yes. It's okay."

She let her eyes close.

When she woke, again, she heard sounds of soldiers, calling out, "This is Alliance Naval Command, respond if you hear me!"

She jumped up, hitting her head on the top of the intake vent. "OW!!" The noise rang through the vent shaft like a gong. "ME!!!! I'M ALIVE!!! HELP!!!"

She heard three sets of footsteps moving her direction. "We're coming!" 

Soon, the soldiers were prying open the intake. One jumped in and got her out, then handed her cat to one soldier, then was helped out by the other soldier. They motioned for a shuttle to come down and put her in it. As it took off, her curiosity got the best of her, and she looked out the window. In the communal area, still decorated with party lights and crepe streamers, she saw Eliza, her father, and her mother among the dead. She grimaced as she looked away. A soldier handed her a blanket and asked if she was hungry, and she said yes. He gave her one of his energy bars and let her have his canteen. "You can keep it if you'd like." 

She sat on the bench by the window, pulling her knees up and cradling her cat and gazed out at the stars as she took in the apple cinnamon flavored granola bar that the soldier gave her. He sat across from her, which was customary for a soldier to do when a victim of trauma is rescued. "Where are the other survivors?" She asked him, still looking out at the vast expanse of space. 

"Everyone was either killed or taken."

"Taken?"

"Yes ma'am. Your colony was attacked by Batarian slavers."

"What? Those mother fu--" Her cat's claws gripped into her pant leg, causing her to gasp before she could finish the word.

"We will do our best to find them before it's too late."

"Can you take me to Hannah Shepard's station? She's my great aunt."

"That's where we're going, ma'am."

"Good." Marley kept it succinct. "Just let me know when we're there."

\--

The door to Admiral Hannah Shepard's tiny corner office slid open, causing her to look up from a hand-written document. She stood up upon seeing her niece in the entrance. "Marley, my God, are you okay?" She rushed to her, embracing her with the strength and love of a mother bear who was protecting her cubs. 

Marley returned the embrace, burying her face in the center of Admiral Shepard's bosom. "Hannah, they're all dead. All of them." She didn't cry, though her body trembled, nonetheless. 

"I know, sweetie. I know." Hannah let her go, but she held on for a few more seconds. Upon her release, Hannah took her head in her hands and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "You're strong, Marley. Just like your mom and dad were." She turned back to her desk. "Sit down, let's get the officials over, first, then we can talk. Okay?"

Marley sat tight, knees together, shaking hands woven together in her lap, chin tucked into her neck, looking down at the glow of a nearby star that illuminated the floor under the desk. "Yes, ma'am." 

"Tell me everything that happened up to the attack."

Marley didn't want to say. "We were having a colony barbecue. We do it once a month."

"Were you there?"

"I was...kind of…"

"Did you witness the attack happen?"

"No...not really."

"But you were there?"

"Yes...but not when it happened."

Hannah sighed. "Marley. Come clean."

"I was standing by the speaker, and I was drinking a stout, and Dad busted me and sent me home."

"You were drinking?"

"Mom knew -- she said as long as I stayed where she could see me, it'd be okay to have one."

"Marley…"

"I'm sorry, Hannah, I was enjoying the party, I met a girl, we kissed, and --"

"Marley..."

"And dad thought we were getting too close, and then he smelled the alcohol, and he made me go home. I was humiliated! Right in front of Eliza and everything!"

"Marley, you mean to tell me you were drinking underage?"

Marley sniffed. "Yes."

"But...you're like the model student according to your teachers…what happened?"

"I still am -- you can drink responsibly…I mean, Mom knew…"

"That rule bending you did sent you home…and saved your life."

Marley sniffled again. "Or prolonged my death."

"Well, play your cards right, and your death will be very far off."

"I just feel like if I was still there, I could have saved Eliza."

"It's more likely that you would have been killed trying to save her, and then she would have been killed, too." Admiral Shepard jotted some notes down on the sheet of paper she had in front of her. "So Marley," she addressed her niece more directly. "Look at me, dear." 

Marley slowly looked up. 

"What are you going to do, next? We need to look at your options, to get you quickly moved somewhere that you can continue your life. The longer you linger without a place or a house, the harder it is going to be for you to recuperate."

"Sure." Her gaze drifted back toward the floor.

"Marley, up here."

She snapped her line of vision back toward her great aunt. 

"Tell me what you'd like to do."

"I dunno...finish school…keep my cat…maybe…finish school fast? I don't have many options. Just…I want a place with food and a bed…quiet…and my cat."

Admiral Shepard tucked her shoulder-length black hair behind her ears and adjusted her tortoise shell frames, then began typing. "I have an idea, and I think you'll like it."

"Oh?"

"My son, John, is in Vancouver, and as you know, he and his wife, Jane, just had a baby. I don't think sending you there would be a good idea -- baby makes for lots of noise. At least my two boys were noisy. My other son -- your cousin, Jordon, is chief engineer with the Royal Damascus mining fleet. The fleet moves around a lot, but makes a stop here once a month for replenishment and shore leave. They have a civilian tourism bay in their main boat."

"Main boat?" Marley was confused. "How many 'boats' do they have?"

"At least a dozen. Maybe fifteen now. It's an entire fleet. The frigates mine the ore in asteroid belts, and the hauler -- the Sparta -- hauls it in with tractor beams. Pretty boring job if you ask me, but Jordon seems to enjoy it."

"Heh," Marley half-laughed. "Boring."

Hannah giggled. "I missed that one! Pun unintended."

"What is the tourism bay?"

"It's basically, how to explain…" Hannah pulled up an image of the huge dreadnought and projected it on the wall. "The Royal Damascus is a recently decommissioned ship that has been repurposed for mining and hauling. There are two levels that were transformed into housing units for those wishing to see space up close. They fly to Arcturus, transfer to the Damascus, and spend twenty eight days on the cruise. We, in turn, spend the profits on colony development and relief efforts when needed. For example, you and any other survivors will eventually receive some form of assistance from the Alliance, at least until you are back on your feet."

"Have they found any other survivors?"

"Not yet, but they're looking." Hannah redirected her attention to the wall. "The units are single and double bed rooms that are a lot like the pods you were living in. Completely self-sufficient. Kitchen area, desk, bathroom with shower, television, and of course a bed. There's a small recreational area you can spend time in as well."

"Hmm..."

"The Sparta also has on board physical therapists, counselors, doctors, and psychiatrists. The fifth level is for military personnel recovering from various traumas. It's a haven, there. I've toured it, myself."

"What about my cat?"

"She's welcome to go with you."

"What about school?"

"You can finish that via the extranet."

"Wow…"

"Not to mention, Jordon is on board. You'll have someone around that you know and can talk to if need be."

It was the first option that was given, and Marley made no hesitation in taking her great aunt Admiral Hannah Shepard on the offer. After all, her home was destroyed, and she had no place to go, other than John and Jane's house. And babies made her nervous. A solitary room in a large dreadnought with all the amenities she might need sounded like a luxury compared to the farm life from which she was ripped away. In less than twenty four hours, she was in that room. She hadn't met up with Jordon, but he did send her a message via extranet:

"Marls, I know you're here. We're super busy getting ready to leave in the morning, or I'd come by right quick. Check the closet. We found out your sizes and got you some swag. Sorry, no needies. Jump off ship and grab what you need at the duty free shops. Also check the bathroom, sorry if you don't like it, it's all I could find. And your cat has a gift box under the desk. There's a credit chit on the desk from my mother. If you want to come up and visit, let me know, and I'll let you know when is a good time. There is a grief counselor on board and you're scheduled to meet her tomorrow at 10am GST. Her name is Nyla Shalara. Former Asari diplomat. I think you'll like her a lot. Very understanding. Will listen to you. If you get hungry, there is a cafeteria on the fifth floor. Tell them your name and to put it on my tab. Enjoy the stuff, I gotta go. Welcome aboard! Love you. -RJ"

She was flushed with a mix of diffidence and gratitude as she opened the closet door to find an overstuffed navy and gold gym bag bearing the Alliance logo. Inside was an assortment of t-shirts, sweat pants, basketball shorts, gym shorts, hoodies, and tank tops. Beside the bag were two pairs of tennis shoes and a pair of saddle oxfords. Hanging up were two pairs of slacks and three polo shirts. Everything but the shoes and slacks had the alliance logo on it, and all of it was navy, black, gold, and/or white. Not her favorite colors, but she didn't mind the idea of getting used to them.

In the bathroom was a brand new bottle of Curve Crush in the 200 year anniversary tin, a music player with an omni tooth (it connected playlists to the omni tool so a person could listen without headphones), an assortment of travel-sized toiletries, and a coffee maker with enough tea and coffee samples to last Marley at least three months. There was no creamer or sugar, so Marley made a mental note to get some at the DF.

On the desk was a chit with 500 credits on it, a thick leather bound journal, some pens and pencils, and a stack of notepads. There was a laptop and two thumb drives, as well. Like the items in the closet, everything had the Alliance logo. Under the desk was a box with a huge bag of premium indoor cat food, a huge container of litter, and a selection of toys and treats. There was a knock at her door.

"It should be open," she spoke up. 

"Miss, I have your cat, I believe." The man at the door, wearing blue and white fatigues, gripped the handle of a plastic carrier with Angel sitting comfortably inside. She perked up as soon as she saw her owner. 

"Yep, that's my Angel!" She took the cat, but the man had to take the carrier with him. "Thank you so much, I was about to ask where she went." 

"Any time, have a good evening, and if you need anything, let us know." He shook her hand and left.

After closing the sliding door, she put her hands on the desk and sucked back an attempted sob, fighting a desire to cry. Her chest tightened, and she bit softly on her quivering lip. She was humbled by all of the unwarranted kindness. She'd rather be a teenager back in Mindoir, sneaking sips of adult drinks and kissing Eliza while 1980s music blared through the speakers. But rathering was impossible. Instead, everything she loved was gone, and Marley Meek Shepard was thrown into a situation where she could have been sent to a refuge, and instead, thanks to her great aunt being who she was, Marley was given everything she needed -- not to start over, but to keep moving forward.

"It's okay, Marley, you'll get through this."

She looked up. "I know I will." Who…whatever the voice was, if it were really God, she believed in it. She sat down on the edge of the bed for a moment, gathered herself and her credit chit, and left for the Duty Free shop.


	2. A Royal Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sixteen year old Marley Shepard meets with her grief counselor, battles and eventually wins over breakfast, and discovers a potential career interest.

“Marley!” A voice called out from down the hall. “Marley! That you?” It was Jordon, her cousin. He carried the family genes: short, stocky, and a thick head of hair, only his was red like his grandfather’s.

“Jordon.” She was never good at expressing her emotions, which was evident in the lack of any in her reply, though she did say, “it’s good to see you.”

He wrapped his strong arms around her, gently placing a kiss on her temple, then tightening his grip on her body before letting go. “It’s good to see you, too.” He held her at arm’s length by the shoulders and examined her. “I’m glad you’re okay. Mom and I were worried sick, and even if it’s only you --”

“Jordon, please...”

“At least we have you.”

She turned her head downward, looking away. The grimace displayed enough for Jordon to know he was hitting a nerve he didn’t intend to. He was, nevertheless, relieved to see her standing before him, especially after hearing the news of what Alliance patrols saw upon arrival.

“Where are you headed?” He asked.

“To the duty free shop.” She pulled the chit out of her pocket. “I need to get some things, and this little baby will come in handy.” A wry smile and a wink let him know she appreciated the opportunity to stay on the topic.

“Mind if I tag along? I just got off duty for the night.”

“Sure.”

They both walked through the airlock, which wasn’t closed since they’d been docked already, and headed straight across the Arcturus commons area to the shop, adequately called “Nataxes General Goods and Grocery.”

Marley instantly noticed a Salarian standing at the counter. “A Salarian?” she pondered aloud. “On Arcturus Station?” She looked at Jordon, who was walking tall as if escorting a date to prom. “Isn’t that a bit counterintuitive?”

“Not at all,” Jordon replied. “Arcturus might be an Alliance base, but they’ve agreed to alien exchanges in public shops and service areas. One of my classmates in engineering school is currently on exchange at one of the mines on Sur’Kesh.”

As they entered the place, which was similar to planetside convenience stores on Earth, she asked, “why?”

“To trade knowledge. Not necessarily top secret information, but like ‘this is how we learned to do this task, how do you do it?’ – you know, stuff like that.”

“Oh, I see.” She picked up a copy of Sports Illustrated, glossy cover with equally glossy pages, featuring a team shot of the New York Giants with the word “LEGACY” emboldened across the bottom. “It’s 2170,” she said, “and football still rules the human psyche. I think it’s time for biotiball to make the cover. Now that’s an awesome sport.”

“Give ‘em time, Marls,” he assured her. “Earth will come around. ‘Sides, the Hackers have six pages in that issue. The Giants only have 4.”

“And the cover.”

“What you really need to be reading up on,” he picked up a thick travel guide and handed it to her, “is all in here.”

“A guide to the galaxy?”

“Yes. You’re already here! Welcome! Seriously. Read up on it. And do me a favor – stroke my ego a little bit --” he handed her another book of about the same size. “Learn about the Alliance. Even if you don’t want to serve, someone in your position could benefit from the free education that comes with enlisting for four years.”  
She flipped through the pages – all beautifully colored with all sorts of diagrams, layouts, and explanations – and half smiled. “I’ll get it.”

They walked through a couple of other aisles, making comments about how interesting or stupid things were to them, then she stopped. “Jordon, am I missing the um...clothing?”

“No,” he said, “I didn’t see it, either.”

“Excuse me, did you say clothing?” The clerk asked. “It’s actually at an omni kiosk.” He pointed at a trio of kiosks at the far wall. “Enter what you want, and it will manufacture it right there all you have to do is pay the cost.”

Marley walked over to one, inserted her chit, and tapped a few buttons. “Sweet, I can get boxer briefs here – five of them – all different colors – for 28 credits.” She tapped a few more buttons. “Three argyle, all different colors...”

“Oh, my...” Jordon stepped up to another one. “Hey, wanna get matching underwear?”

“Oh my – are you serious?”

“Why not?”

“Okay, three argyle, one red and blue, one gold and black, one green and silver.”

“Okay, and the other ones will be plaid. One red and black, and the other – “

“The other one will be...” she grinned mischeviously. “hot pink and lime green.”

“Change hot pink to pylon orange, and you got a deal.”

“Deal.”

They watched in amazement as the machine produced each garment right before their eyes.

“Okay, I’m not usually easily amused,” Marley admitted, “but this amuses me.” She added a six pack of black ankle-high athletic socks before removing her chit and taking her purchase.

“You know your omni tool can do the same thing, in a way. Buy some omni gel packs and an instruction manual. For example, I ran out of ammo during training, which is embarrassing, and my squadmate showed me how to make more ammo with it.”

“Bet you felt good after that.”

“I felt safer.”

She picked up a bag of mixed nuts, as well as a couple of bottles of Lemon-Lime Tupari-Ade , then walked up to the counter. “I guess that’s it...” She looked up at Jordon, who was short, but still a good three inches taller than her 5’6” frame. “Did you need anything else?”

“Nope...wait.” He opened the cooler and grabbed two Mutant energy drinks. “Now I’m ready.

“If you’re interested, we have paperback word puzzle books for only one credit,” the clerk suggested.

“Let me have one of them, please.” She waited for him to ring her items up, then swiped her chit to pay for it. “What’s your name, sir?”

“Madras is my name.”

She shook his hand. “I’m Marley Shepard. It’s a pleasure, maybe I’ll see you again, some time.”

“Likewise, Marley.”

Jordon swiped his chit for his items, which also included a bottle of Edne’s Golden Gin, 7-Up, and a deck of playing cards. “We have poker night on the first leg of the trip,” he told her.

They left the shop, and headed back through Royal Damascus customs and security. “Maybe we can pit stop close to Earth, next time, and we can shuttle down and meet our new cousin.”

“That would be neat,” Marley replied, lost in thought. She thought about Eliza, and how she would love to see the stars from this place, and how the two of them used to spend homework time gazing out upon them from a hill near their house. It was very dark at night, and the galaxy’s two arms were thick and bolstering with jeweled dots and moving clouds of sparkling dust. It was as if someone threw a bag of glitter into forever, just for the two of them.

*You’re tired, Marley.* It was that voice.

“Marley?” Jordon asked.

“Huh?”

“You okay? Did you hear what I said?”

“That we should go meet the baby?”

“No, that Hannah wants to make sure you have everything you need.”

“Oh...sorry, I didn’t.” They came to her hallway, and she looked down at her bag of goods, then blurted, “I should go.”

“Um, okay. Sure.” He hugged her again. “Like I said, just let me know – let one of us know – if you need anything at all.”

Marley nodded and turned down the hall for the door. When she entered the room, she stared blankly at her bed, then at the journal on the desk. 'What should I do?'

"Write it down." It was that voice, again.

"Write what down?" She asked out loud, then gasped at her stupidity.

"Your feelings. Write down how you feel. Write a poem."

She opened the journal, dated the top right line, and in fine cursive, wrote:

I feel

I feel a pit in my stomach  
Deep enough for my home  
And all who were there  
To the stars they now roam  
I feel an ache in my chest  
Tight and stressed  
It burns and it yearns  
To be released.  
I don't even miss them, yet.

Marley felt her eyes well up, then quickly dried them off, dressed down, and stepped into the shower. It was there that she allowed herself to cry freely, a place where water was everywhere, so that the tears would blend in.

She finished and put on a t-shirt and sweat pants and lay down. Tears were still falling, but she was silent and listened to her own breathing.

"You'll be okay, I promise." That voice, again.

"Are you God?" She whispered, her warm breath fluttering the sheet that covered her tear soaked face.

There was a faint chuckle in the distance that was in her mind. "No. I am definitely not God." The next reply came in a muffled tone, as if the voice were speaking under its breath. "Must seem like it, though."

The room fell silent for a good two minutes, but Marley remained focused on her breathing and the grooves in the darkened ceiling. After the pensive time passed, she asked, "who are you? Are you me?"

"Nope, not you."

"Hmm..." if there were gears in her head, they'd be whirring. "What are you?"

"I don't think...I am afraid to say."

"Why? If you're going to be in my head all the time, I'd like to know who I'm thinking back to."

"In that case, you can call me Bryan."

She could almost see the headline: "Mindoir Teenager Possessed by Man Named Bryan."

"Bryan. Are you alive?"

There was silence.

"Hello?" Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale.

"I am? I was. I...I'm not sure how to explain it."

"Did I make you up?"

"No."

"Umm..." Perhaps he was a figment of her imagination acting like a real being. She learned in AP Psychology that people often escape to fantasy when they're stressed or traumatized. "Can you hear all my thoughts?"

"Only if they're directed at me, or if you include me."

"Include you?"

"Yeah. Like if your focus is on the whole room, I will be there, too. But if you're completely focused on a single person, I feel...like I am deaf. Like you put a mute button on me. I can still see everything you see, though. If you're super focused, I end up beside you. I don't know how to explain this at all."

"So, are you human?"

"I...don't want to answer that. Not yet, anyway."

"I don't understand."

"I don't either," Bryan replied. "But know that what you do might bring me back to who I was. And I really don't care where I end up. As long as I can be whole again."

"I am so confused."

"Dude you have no idea. Look. Here's the deal. Something happened and I ended up bound to your psyche. I know why, and it's scary but pretty amazing, but I can't tell you or else I will die, and so will you. So we're working together until we get there."

"Um...okay." Marley wasn't afraid of him at all. It was just completely abnormal to her that this was happening. If he was real, then she was fine with it. After all, he hadn't been harmful or mean. "You've been nice, so far. I don't mind you being here."

"Ok. How about we get some sleep, then."

She wiped her face dry with the sheet, then wiped her nose with her arm. Between sniffles, she agreed, "Okay, goodnight, Bryan."

"Good night."

She felt herself drift into semi-unconsciousness, then out of the blue, said, "Bryan?"

"Yes, Marley?"

"Thank you for being here."

"Aww, Marley, you're welcome. I may just be a voice, but I still have a heart. Thank you for having me."

\--

Marley danced her fork around the scramble of real eggs and diced tomatoes, trying to find reason to take a bite of something that was normally a welcome morning treat.

"Eat."

'I don't...I don't feel like it.'

She wore navy basketball shorts with black trim and a matching black tank top. On her feet were the black and gold pair of sneakers that she was given. On the way to the café, she tossed everything she wore from Mindoir into a receptacle, vowing to never look back. But the eggs were making her very uncomfortable, despite letting go of old attire and having the loose clothing she was wearing, now.

"Come on, you can do this."

'I can't.' She took her tray to the waste area and left, half sick, half angry.

Soon after, she was walking into Dr. Nyla Shalara's office with her head high, made eye contact, and shook her hand with a firm, yet gentle grip. It was as if she'd flipped a switch. Not hiding anything, but changing her mentality.

"Marley Shepard. Sixteen years old. One of a handful to survive Mindoir."

"More survived?"

"There were several dozen at their…let me see…" She read through the information on her data pad, then ran her fingers over the tentacles on head and read aloud, "72 survivors at Northeast Pavilion, Section 211, and 48 survivors at Far West Pavilion, Section 220."

"I don't know anyone from there, but I am glad to hear they are alive."

"Me too." That was Bryan. "Mind if I sit in?"

'Sure...actually, yes please.' Her thoughts were directed at him, and she welcomed his presence like the invisible hand she wished to be holding.

He could feel her feeling that way.

"I am very sorry for your immediate losses, Marley, and for having to be moved to a new place so quickly. Is everything going smoothly?"

"I just got here last night. But yeah, so far. I don't know who all pitched in, but I was given everything I could possibly need to keep moving forward. I am grateful."

"I need to make sure you get the help you're going to need."

"Help? I'm fine."

"Marley…" Bryan warned.

"You're going to be in bad shape if you don't recognize and address the symptoms of grief as they arise, Marley." Nyla encouraged her to "think about the long term recovery process."

"Listen to her!" Bryan chirped again.

"Look, it's not going to be a problem, and we can sit here all day arguing about it, or we can talk about what I need to do next."

"But I can't help you if you won't let me!" Nyla stood up, revealing her incredible height. She had to be at least six feet tall. She began pacing the room, occasionally stopping and staring at the girl, hands on her hips in exasperation.

"I don't need help," Marley sighed. "I need to move forward. If you're going to help me, then help me with that."

"Hmm." Her skin was a very light blue. Her head was painted with flakes of gold and dark blue, which matched her dark blue gown. She didn't look as old as she looked mature, and the fiery eyes she bore before hand eyes were calm and understanding. She wasn't Marley's first Asari encounter, but one of the closer ones. "In order to ensure that you stay above the breaking line, I wanted to go over some things I want you to focus on. One of them is waking up early. Or even with the ship's public hours. A challenge would be to wake up when the crew wakes up. Secondarily, I'd like for you to practice eating three times a day with two snacks. If you didn't before, work up to it. And third, I want you to stay busy. Find something to do. We have a fitness center that you might enjoy. There is a jogging track as well as a lap pool. We also have a small cinema. Unfortunately, the majority of our entertainment is geared toward adults. Three bars on the ship, but no…oh, how can I forget? We do have a coffee shop. They have great sandwiches."

Marley scribbled some notes in her journal, then looked up at Nyla, who was now leaning on the desk. "I can do these things. I'm having trouble eating, though."

"Food is love…isn't it?"

"We were -- it happened during a barbecue."

"Oh, I see. Okay, leave what happened there. The barbecue didn't cause it to happen, so don't blame it on the food."

"I'm not blaming it on --"

"In a way, you are."

Marley thought about it, then said, "maybe in a way, I am. Lots of love shared around food. But one moment of hate and now I get hungry and want to cry."

"Exactly. Remember the love shared, not the moment of hate. At the very least, Marley, eat to sustain and nothing more. Dissociate the emotion from the food."

They discussed more details, such as the meeting schedule, her educational syllabus, who her teachers were (Nyla received this information for her), and at Marley's request, how to earn extra credits while staying busy. "One more thing, Marley?"

"Yes?"

"You have my email address. If you need anything at all, contact me. I'm a buzz away."

\--

Marley stopped at the café after Bryan's insistence, picking up an apple and a small bowl of hot oatmeal dressed with a dash of cinnamon and a small spoonful of vanilla flavored coffee creamer. She loved creamer on her oatmeal. Just a little bit went a long way.

She sat down by herself at one of the two-chaired tables near a faux wall, ate the oatmeal consciously, then took the apple home with her.

"Maybe this won't be so bad, Marley."

"Maybe not." Marley made her bed, finally, and made sure her room was up to her high standards, then opened the book about the Alliance Military that she picked up. It was soft cover, but full of glossy pages of soldiers, planets, weapons, planes, ships, vehicles, and buildings.

"Hey, what's this?" She stumbled across a chapter on careers, and there was a section on a pre-military conditioning class for teens wanting to prepare for the career. She took a picture of the page with her omni tool's camera and sent it to Nyla. "Nyla, I want to look into this."


	3. Fast Tracks and Preparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marley makes the decision to enlist...early...and her great aunt Hannah somewhat disapproves. RJ introduces her to her future workout partners, and eventually, Hackett tells her the painful truth of why she shouldn't smile during dressdowns.

"No." Hannah's voice was stern, almost absolute.

"But Hannah!"

"I said no. The military is not for you, dear. It's harsh, it's wild, not to mention deadly..."

"But you're here, RJ is here, Jane and John both are in the Alliance -- why not me?"

"I just...I can't have all the kids in the program. It's just...someone needs to be a civilian and --"

"Why." Marley asked it as if it were a statement. "Why not me."

"Just no."

Marley hung her head, then turned for the door. Right when the door opened, she spun around. "It's because I'm all that's left of Mom and Dad, isn't it?"

"No, it's --"

"It is. You're afraid something will happen to me, too, and you don't want to chance it, so you're trying to coddle me into something else."

"No --"

"You know, I was thinking about college, about a future career, and you know the military isn't always about fighting. It can be about research. I'm very interested in biology, you know?"

"Now there's --"

"You know, like astrobiology, or biotechnology, or --"

"I get your point...but make sure --" She lifted off her chair, pointing with every word she spoke, "make damn sure you don't end up on the front lines somewhere." Hannah sat back down. "I don't want to risk losing you, too."

"Yes ma'am."

"Shepard out." 

The holovid disconnected, and Marley sat back in her chair, melting to it. "That was tense."

*I saw.*

"Yeah."

*So you are interested in biology?*

"Indeed, when I was a kid, I used to watch dad repair broken trees in the orange groves in Valencia, and I wondered what would happen if you spliced broken branches of different orange trees together to one tree, and they all grew. I mean, it'd already been done many times before with many different plants, but I did that on my own. I was like five."

*Wow.*

"Five years old, and ever since then, I've been fascinated by plants."

*That's incredible.*

"Thanks, Bryan."

A sudden knock on her door made Marley jump with a start. 

Opening it, she found Jordon and two friends. "Hey RJ, what's up?" She said, brushing her long brown hair out of her face.

"We're headed to the gym -- wanna go?" 

"Um, yeah, let me change clothes." She threw on some shorts and a hoodie, and met them outside. 

"Marls, I want you to meet Chris and Eric, my two XOs. We're just running the paces, today, kind of a free for all. Eric is a PT here when he's not working. He was going to assess your abilities and strengths, and then work on a plan to get you in shape."

"Sure thing."

Upon entrance to the medium-sized facility, she spied a row of free weights -- dumbbells and pre-weighted barbells of all sizes and styles -- and a row of four treadmills, four stationary bicycles, four rowing machines, and finally, a section of machine weights. There were locker rooms in the back, as well as a door to other facilities. A staff member encouraged her to take the tour, which she did. Behind the door near the locker rooms were two racquetball courts, a lap-sized swimming pool, a dry sauna, and a basketball court with a small series of bleachers. 

"We have a league on the Damascus," the staff member said. "The teams change with every new cruise, due to the cruises only being 28 days, but you should join. It's not competitive so much as it is fun, and it can be hilarious, sometimes."

*Do it!* 

"I'm not sure, sir..."

"Like I said, the teams change with each new cruise, and it's more for fun than competitive. We also have pick up games on Thursdays, seven pm Earth EST -- you just show up ready to play."

"Eastern Standard Time?"

"Yes, Eastern. Our Earthbound home base is on Long Island, New York, so we go by that time on the ship."

*how complicated, I wonder why they don't just go with Galactic Standard Time like everyone else…* 

*Most of the people on the cruise are most likely from Earth, so they keep it simple for those passengers, perhaps?*

*Good point.* "I'll consider. Thanks. I would like to sign up for a membership to the gym, if I can do that, now."

"It comes as an amenity, your identification grants you access."

"Awesome…" She became lost in what to say, next, so she quickly spurted "I should go find my cousin," before making haste toward RJ and his two friends.

Ninety minutes later, the four of them were walking out of the gym. All of them were tired, but Marley especially. 

"Hey, Marls, that was some pretty kick-ass stuff you pulled off. I think you'll be conditioned in no time." Eric patted her on the back, and she blushed a bit.

"Thanks, Eric. I appreciate it." Her hair was matted from sweat, as was her clothes but she didn't want to shower at the gym when her room was a two minute jaunt away. 

"Thanks to your running hobby, as well. Makes my job a little easier." He beamed with the anticipation of helping his new "client" get in shape. 

She already had it in her head that she was going to join the Alliance Navy, no matter what, and with that, she'd attend university for a degree in bio-something. From there, who knew? "Makes my goals a little easier to achieve, as well, Eric."

They finished walking her to her room, then she closed the door. "That was awesome," she said to herself. "And he was kind of cute."

*Ugh.*

"Oh hush, Bryan, it's not like you're going to see any of it."

*Actually, I would, and that thought scares me.*

"I'm 16."

*I KNOW SO DROP IT.*

"Fine." She waited until she sat down at her desk to throw in, "besides, women are much cuter."

*Now we're talkin'.*

She opened the terminal, began to enter the chat room for the text-based commentary on the mining excavation for the day, but changed her mind. She closed the terminal, instead utilizing a desktop replication projected from her Omnitool. Her fingers tapped around the board with precision and quickness that the common eye would find difficulty keeping the pace. 

Her typing was in a simple Notepad, one of four carry-overs from the previous Windows 27, which received horrible marks that rivaled the system they released 20 upgrades ago. 

1\. research Fastrack, sign up, begin.  
2\. research ATA, sign up, begin.  
3\. RJ is helping me to get in shape  
4\. buy food to sustain, not to enjoy.

Her first item on the list was Fastrack, the hyper fast paced high school graduation program for hardships, special considerations or accommodations, college prerequisites, or otherwise equally fast-paced students. She was able to locate the Fastrack placeholder online, which led to a redirect to both a form to fill out and a storefront to purchase whatever materials she might need. She filled out the form, which pointed out that she qualified for two reasons -- hardship and special considerations -- and received approval and admittance almost immediately. Had she used the laptop instead of her Omnitool (which also housed her basic life information in the unit), she'd have to wait for verification of identity. She was a junior in high school, she purchased the two course books for that level of education. The material was only $57 after a small processing fee was added. She downloaded the material onto her Omnitool and went back to the note she wrote in, marking out the first item with a swipe of her finger across the line. 

Next up, research the Advanced Training Academy. A lot of people get mixed up and call it "Advance" Training Academy, but there's a "d" at the end. "Advanced" signifies two features in a potential recruit: they are young, and they are smart. You may join as early as twelve, if you enter through the juvenile's school. Regardless when you enter, you will always be officially enlisted as of your birthday with an asterisked start date in a separate column on the same page. Even though her birthday was over six months away, Marley would have April 11, 2171 listed as her enlistment date with October 21, 2170 listed in the separate "start date" column if she began immediately. They spent over three hundred words explaining that in the "more information" section of the extranet site, so she kept it mentally filed away under "for some reason I need to know this."

*Bryan, when did you join the Alliance?* She posed the question as subtly as she could.

*When I was eighteen,* was his answer.

"I knew it!" Her sense of pride in learning something new about her mental cohort was overwhelming. "I just knew it!"

*Yeah. Dad was in the military, and I wanted an easy route through college. I wanted to be a paramedic in real life, and ended up being a combat medic after two years of study and basic training.*

*That's awesome. RJ and Eric are on board for the physical aspects. Maybe you can help me through the education part of it.*

*Basic training is not easy, even for the most able-bodied individual.*

*Thanks.*

She continued reading the information on the website, and filled out the initial interest form and sent it off.

She began a new message in her Omnitool's mail app, addressed to Jordon, and wrote "I put in for the Advanced Training Academy. Don't tell your mother, but I think I'll be training with you guys from here on out. Thanks in advance for not saying anything." She tapped "send" with her finger.

*Ok, number four: eat to sustain.*

*Allow me to help,* Bryan offered. 

*Go for it.*

*Keep it simple. Oatmeal with dry flavoring such as cinnamon and light on the sugar, synthetic chicken breast, varren meat, fresh greens wherever they are available -- spinach, leafy or romaine lettuce, rocket -- arugula, rather, and similar things like that. Brown rice, and plenty of it. Protein powder or ready to drink meal replacement shakes, and --*

*Let's take a moment to assess the fact that a place for cooking does not exist in this room.*

*Synthetic, I said. It comes precooked, and you can even purchase it diced to add to your salad, or throw it all together in a steam pod in the microwave -- I am sure there's a microwave around here somewhere.*

*Wait.* Her stomach turned at the thought of eating manufactured meat of any kind. *Synthetic chicken?!?* That just sounded *nasty…*

*It's not bad at all. No animals are harmed, and the BCAAs and protein content aren't lost in the manufacturing process.*

*I don't know -- it just sounds so…gross.*

*Marley, it's not like they were growing chicken parts in a lab somewhere like two centuries ago -- it's literally fake meat, I'm sure they sell it in the cafeteria. Just give it a shot.*

She grumbled a disgusted noise and resigned, *fine, I'll try it. Once.*

*If you like it, you owe me.*

*That sounds like a…nevermind.* 

*HA!*

She finished writing the list in the notepad app, then copied it on the notepad on her desk, and finally tacked it on the small door to her room's refrigerator with a magnet. *We'll get started on that right away.*

On her way to the cafeteria to scope out their supplies, she noted the location of the gym was right next door.

The cafeteria's automatic door slid open as she walked in, and something clacked on the floor nearby. Looking down at the shiny object, she picked it up. It was a rock, but not just any rock. A small polished lapis lazuli -- the one that Eliza gave her after Marley's piano recital on Mindoir. And not just any recital, but a medley of Erik Satie pieces, something that brought the attending members of the Alliance Colonial Congress Symposium to its feet in ovation. It was also something that had many universities requesting her presence at their schools.

Piano was something she was known and lauded for by family and friends. It was something she envisioned herself doing, perhaps as a career. But she loved it too much to simply make a job of it. She loved the piano. The keys created emotions she could not otherwise voice. "Super intelligent," she described herself, "with the common sense of a fence post." Although it really wasn't a lack of common sense, but social sense. She had many acquaintances, but very few close friends. She kept her circle tight out of necessity -- her social anxiety often left her flopping for words like a fish out of water when too many people were around, or when the conversation went flat. 

When she tried to explain to Eliza how she felt, one day, they were at the Mindoir Pavilions Community Center where her father's grand piano remained on the stage. She played and sang a version of You Are the Moon for her, and Eliza understood the sentiment, but wasn't sure how to respond. The feeling was very mutual, but Eliza, like Marley, was uncomfortable expressing her emotions. It was the uneasiness that formed the bond between them.

She allowed herself to process the memory, was grateful for it, though she couldn't figure out where the stone fell from, since she was certain she'd thrown everything away. Nevertheless, the lapis found its way into her shorts pocket, and she continued forth to the cafeteria. While there, she made notes of all of the available food options, and reasoned it would be stupid to buy stock for her room, save for a few ready-made protein shakes, electrolyte drinks, and carbohydrate bars, which she bought three or four of each, then carried back to her room and placed in the mini fridge, which was already stocked with a dozen or so bottles of water.

She was about to check her messages when there was a knock at her door. "Heya RJ." She said after opening it. 

"I got your message. So you want to join the Navy?" He started strutting and chanting "yes you can sail the seven seas, yes you can put your mind at ease…"

"No," she put her hands up at him, "No Village People." 

"No finding pleasure?" He pleaded. "No searching the galaxy for treasure?"

"Not just yet." She couldn't contain the giggle that his strutting exumed from her core.

"Hmph. Well." He picked up the Alliance guide book that she purchased and began flipping through it. "You said you wanted to get in shape for it. And yes, we are willing to help with that."

"Show me what you have to do to pass the physical, then we can work up to that."

"Perfect."

\--

February 20, 2171  
Royal Damascus Fleet Civilian Housing  
Marley's Room

The phone rang twice before a man answered. "Alliance Military Academy, this is Hackett's office,"

"Yes, um…I'd like to speak with…um…Captain Steven Hackett? I was told to contact him directly, per a letter I received via Hannah Shepard."

The man laughed. "Thanks for the promotion, miss, but I'm no Captain, just a Lieutenant Commander."

"Oh, I um…am sorry I promoted you." Her cheeks burned with embarrassment.

He laughed again, and replied, "it's no trouble at all. Who am I speaking with?"

"Marley Shepard. Hannah is my aunt. We spoke briefly about me attending the Academy, and I wanted to know what it took to join, aside from the physical."

"Just a note from your parents allowing you admission…oh, I am so sorry, Miss Shepard, I just realized who you were. Hannah's next of kin, technically, am I correct?"

There was a brief silence, and Marley finally answered, "I believe so, yes."

"Then her word is as good as any written admission."

"Um, thank you."

"If it's any consolation, I lost my parents when I was young, myself. I understand how you must feel, right now. I joined the Academy, myself, when I was twelve. It's not military until you turn 16, and not combat until you turn 18. The Academy will help point you in the direction that is best for you, career-wise. Have you completed high school, yet?"

"I have just received my diploma, sir, yes."

"Good. And you've already completed the pre-training physical?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good deal. Looks like you're all set for immediate departure, if you're ready."

"Bring it on, sir."

"That's what I like to hear. I'm glad you called about this, I am not usually available, but this isn't war time, so I'm spending the spring with this crop of recruits unless something comes up. I cannot wait to personally welcome your class aboard." 

\--

April 11, 2171  
Location: Vancouver

"Come on, recruits! I want those pull ups!" The drill sergeant barked. "Shepard! Slow down, you’re rushing your team!" 

"They'll catch up!" She grunted between hoists. 

"What number are you on?"

"87...UNGH!!! 88…UNGH!!! 89…UNGH!!!"

"Come on, squad! You gonna let the smallest one in the unit outshine all y'all?" 

"SIR NO SIR" was the response in perfect unity.

She completed her hundred pull-ups, then dropped from the bar. Three recruits finished right behind her, and the other twenty or so finished within a minute of Marley, who was still wringing the sweat from her tight pony tail as they stood waiting for further orders. A boy with the name LENG written on his tank top gave her an ominous sneer.

"Congratulations, cadets, you have officially passed the first phase of the physical. I hope I am not the first to say this, but I am proud to welcome you to the Alliance Advanced Training Academy. Next up, we need to get you -- " A uniformed officer with M6 on his chest approached the sergeant and showed him a datapad. "Oh? I see…Shepard, Claussen, Babcock, Mattox, Leng, and Sellers! Front and center!"

The six cadets, four young men and two young women, both approached the sergeant. "You need to see the staff in the med bay immediately."

All of them followed the M6 to the med bay, where each was taken to separate rooms. Marley sat alone as she waited to be seen. Her legs dangled off the side of the examination table as she counted the number of tiles in the floor.

*Wonder what this is all about,* muttered Bryan.

*I have no idea, but the doctor…M6 is doctor, right? The doctor looked serious.*

*M6 is medical technician. Doctor without the official certification. M7 is officially a doctor.*

*What were you?*

*C4. Explosives haha, but C4 is certified combat medic. It's your official designation once out of education. I was 22 when everything happened to me. About to promote to C5.*

*Ahh ok.*

The door slid open and a uniformed M5 walked into the room. "Marley Meek Shepard?"

"Yes ma'am."

"State your service number."

"5923-AC-2826."

"Ok, good. Does your family have any biotics?"

"Not that I am aware of, ma'am." 

"Your birthdate is April 11, 2154 in Valencia, California, is that correct?" 

"Yes ma'am. We moved to Mindoir when I was four."

"Do you know what hospital you were born in?"

"I think it was called Scripts?"

"Scripps, yes. Okay." The M5 typed some things into her data pad, and nodded. "Okay, it appears there may have been an eezo exposure. What did your parents do?" 

"My father was a civil engineer, and my mother was a sociologist-turned-teacher when we moved to Mindoir. They got a contract, I think, to help expand the colony. With her teaching skills, the relocation was a breeze. I remember her insisting I become a teacher since they are so highly coveted in the colonies. But I really liked my dad's talks about his job."

"Civil Engineer, like the reconstruction of Interstate 5?" 

"Yes, he was the head of that project. One of his proudest accomplishments, to keep ground traffic running smoothly while completely tearing down and redesigning the road."

"He was exposed to element zero, then, during that job, I bet. That was being done in the fall of 2153, and your mother would have been pregnant with you. I bet you took on some of it's qualities. The question is how much?"

"I…I don't know. I've never exhibited any of the qualities people talk about."

"Contrary to popular belief, a person can be considered biotic simply because of the exposure, and not because the capabilities are strong enough to reveal themselves. If they were, you'd know it already."

"Oh, ok. Like 'hey, I am a biotic, but I'm not biotic-capable.' Makes sense to me."

"Imagine someone who tests positive for tuberculosis. They don't actually have it, they simply carry it."

"But they can pass it on." 

"Yes, and biotics can't pass it on, but some people do simply carry it, and nothing more." She tapped information into the datapad. "We just need to add this to your profile, and officially add your name to the registry, and you'll be all set." 

"Registry?"

"In case something happens in the future, we'll be aware that this may be a factor."

Marley frowned and nodded. "Oh…kay…"

"Otherwise, you are completely fit for duty, and it looks like you are due for first shakedown at 1700 hours on the marching grounds."

\--

Marley and Tiffany Sellers shared a room with two other girls. Marcia Lewandowski and Chloe Kirkpatrick were their names. Tiffany was very tall and looked just like her mother, who was from Acapulco. Marcia had curly red hair, freckled skin, and pale blue eyes, and was on the lithe side. Chloe's brown hair was straight and cut at the shoulders, and looked more German than her London roots. They were already suited up in their dress blues, with a single black stripe on each shoulder, and were helping each other ensure their hair was above the collar per specifications. 

"I think I should just chop my hair off," Marley quipped as Lewandowski helped Sellers put it in a bun. "This is insanely tight." 

"No, no, never do something drastic for a dress code unless it's what you want personally." Kirkpatrick grinned maliciously. "Of course, if you want it, I have scissors in my bag…"

"Not right now," Marley laughed. Sellers and Lewandowski laughed as well.

"Well," Sellers sighed, "We're all set, let's go!"

\--

The cadets lined up in the heat of the Vancouver sun, which, thankfully it wasn't windy, or the 45 degree air wouldn't allow the heat to be felt. They were lined up alphabetically, and Sellers stood immediately to the left of Shepard. 

"We got this, we look great," Sellers whispered. 

Marley could barely contain her toothy ear-to-ear grin.

The sergeant stopped at each academy recruit, looking them over from shoe to hair, grunting "pass…pass…pass…" as he went over each one. He came to Marley, looked her over, then looked her over again, and calmly announced, "fail." Leng let out a chuckle, to which the sergeant immediately walked over to him and asked, "what was that, Leng?" 

Leng cleared his throat. "Nothing, sir."

"It better be nothing." 

Marley's smile was gone. What had she done wrong? There wasn't a hair out of place, wasn't a crease where it wasn't supposed to be, and even her gig line was straight, not that it was visible beneath the dress coat. 

"Sir?" Marley asked. "Why fail?"

"You're smiling, cadet." 

"You failed me because I was smiling -- as if I cannot be *proud* to be in this uniform?!?" She looked him in the eyes with an exasperated expression, which turned into somewhat of an 'I dare you to say fail again' look. "Do you know how hard I've had to work to get to this point?"

"You are not to smile during dress down. You failed."

"Show me that in writing."

The rest of the cadets grew silent as the sergeant got within an inch of her face. "Are you calling me out in front of your peers?"

"I am telling you to show me where it is written that cadets cannot smile. This is not a mug shot. This is not a prison sentence, and this sure as hell is not a walk in the park. Unless otherwise shown, we all reserve the right to smile if we want to."

The sergeant held the close-proximity stare-down for a moment longer, then sneered as he looked away. "Fine. Pass."

Everyone ended up passing. 

"Shepard, you're wanted in the Commander's office." The sergeant smirked piously at her. "Now you can go smile for him."

Marley shrugged it off, much to his disapproval, and walked with her head held high to Commander Hackett's office. When she got there, she was greeted by a trio of officers, all with mixed emotions, looking upon her with either dignity or disdain, she couldn't determine which. Either way didn't phase her. She walked into the Commander's office and sat down in the chair by the door. 

"Marley Shepard. Service number 5923-AC-2826." Hackett's announcing her serial was flat. "I see you had a run-in during the dress-down."

"If that's what you want to call it," she half admitted. "He tried to fail me for smiling."

"When you're dead, and when a soldier finds your corpse, will your face have a smile upon it?" The question was also flat, but imposing.

After thinking about it, she answered, "I wouldn't know -- I'd be dead." A disheartening response, albeit honest.

"This is why you never smile during dress-down."

"I don't understand."

"Your body loses expression when you die." Hackett sighed from the desk he sat behind. "I didn't think I would need to explain this to you, someone who has already witnessed death in numbers."

"Witnessed, but not observed, sir." Again, disheartening, but honest. 

"I understand. I'll put it this way. There is no written word that explains you cannot smile during dress-down. However, next time, please hold a serious expression. Your goal is not to be proud, but to be fierce."

"Understood, sir." She saluted him, turned to leave, then added, "perhaps it should be in writing? With an explanation?"

Hackett sighed again. "Perhaps it should be. I will look into it."


	4. Fire over Aeia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three years has passed since Shepard Joined the Alliance Navy, and up to this point, nothing exciting has happened. She applied to Valencia University, and attended school at their Vancouver campus when she wasn't training, majoring in biotechnology. She was invited to Interplanetary Combatives Training School late in 2172, and has been both studying for her Masters and earning her first three levels of the 'N' program up to March of 2175.

March, 2175  
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

"TEN HUT!" The soldiers, slathered in mud and grass, lined up and stood at attention. Marley was in there, as well, and though every single one of them were covered, she stood out like a sore thumb. "What's this?" Their commanding officer, Commander David Anderson, stood in front of her, looking at her with curiosity. "Your shorts are on your head..." he delicately opened one of the legs so that it fell to Marley's neck like a scarf. "Couldn't see, so you changed it up mid-course?"

"Yes SIR!" No smile on her face, this time. 

"Intriguing," he replied. "It worked?"

"Yessir."

"Put them where they go."

She struggled, but finally pulled her muddy shorts over her equally muddy legs. She felt like she soiled herself.

He moved on until he was done with each of the ICT trainees, then took his place at the center of the unit. "Ladies, gentlemen, soldiers...it is my great honor to announce that every one of you have passed the first three levels of Interplanetary Combatives Training. I am certain that, after all of the lessons you've learned, you wonder why the level three examination was a simple frolic in the mud in comparison. It is because everything you've learned has prepared you for what will happen next. We started with twenty four individuals. There are ten of you, now, and typically, we only have five or six at this point. That being said, you will be split into two groups. Sellers, Shepard, Claussen, Arsenault, and Babcock on one team. You will meet with me in the comm room after your showers. Dress blues for this one. Smith, Leng, Douglas, Coonrod, and Philips, meet with Ogilvie in the war room. If you thought the first three levels were harsh, they have nothing on what comes next."

In the communications room, the five soldiers sat around the oblong wooden table. Anerson walked into the room, looked at his team, and smiled. "You all clean up nicely. I can see your bright happy faces just *waiting* to jump into the fray, where ever we're sending you, huh?" They laughed. "Let's break the ice a little, get off guard, some. State your name, where you're from, and your favorite sports team and something you're good at." He eyed them, saying, "keep it clean," which made everyone laugh again. He pointed at Claussen. "Start us off, sir."

"Alex Claussen," the blonde haired, blue eyed angel of a young man began. "I'm from Elysium. Gotta give props to my Illyria Bandits, and I know how to bind books. My father is a leatherbound book binder back home." 

"Tiffany Sellers. I'm from Westchester, New York, and I love redesigning home interiors. I wanted to do that for a living, and enlisted for engineering and architecture, but I couldn't refuse the opportunity to try out N School when I got the invite, so I'm here instead. Oh -- go Giants!" Tiffany had long, dark brown hair, pulled up in a bun, and her eyes were just as dark as her hair. Her light brown skin was soft and radiated with a golden aura.

"Jay Arsenault. I'm from Montreal. I am great at ice hockey, and played a bit during tech school at MIT. That's Massachusetts MIT, by the way. So since I played for them, my heart is with the Engineers!" Jay was a redhead, with emerald green eyes, pale skin, and freckles all over his face. 

"Reggie Babcock, also from New York, but I'm from Nassau. Big Mets fan. I'm in the biotechnology school with Shepard at Valencia University. I *ahem* currently play baseball for the Tigers. When I retire from active duty, which I might not, I'm going to try out for the big leagues." Reggie was dark in color, with black hair and almost black eyes, and he was an athletic build like Marley. 

"Marley Shepard, originally from Valencia, California, but I spent most of my childhood on Mindoir. Like Reggie said, I am in the biotechnology school at Valencia University -- go Tigers! My favorite team is the Seattle Sorcerers, though ice hockey is my favorite sport. Um...what I'm good at...I can play the piano. I love the piano."

"I'm David Anderson, I'm from London, and my favorite team is the Usaru Maestros, because a team of women, asari or otherwise, who can beat men almost twice their size will always have my accolades. I am good at fishing." He took a seat at the end of the table. "2175 Aeia is a new colony, and we're sending you to go in -- with a fleet of explorers on the SSV Osan -- to check out the planet, landside. Your mission will be to offer ground security for the science and survey teams when they make landfall. They are to gather samples of plant life, water, dirt, rocks, and other natural occurrences, as well as take measurements in preparation for a colonization effort. When everyone is done, you will return to the MSV Hugo Gernsback. The Gernsback is a recently decommissioned ship, primarily run by a private science team operating in the area. I don't expect anything to run askew, but nevertheless, it will count toward your N4 designation, regardless. You're due to the shuttle port in 30 minutes."

"Commander?" Marley raised her hand a bit. "Are you going as well?"

"I am. Move out everyone." 

\--

Within a half hour, the six changed to basic Alliance hardsuits, dark navy with gold trip, and were equipped with their weapons of choice. Marley opted for her M-92 Mantis and a Kessler pistol, the latter of which used thermal clips. She figured that, if something did happen, and she were to run out of ammunition, at least the Kessler wouldn't be affected. Most of the other crew opted for standard issue M-7 Lancers, which also used thermal-clips. Reggie, one of the two biotics on their crew, chose a shotgun and a pistol. 

"So Claussen," Reggie opened the conversation, which was quiet for the first half hour of the trip, "when are we going to pick nicknames for everyone?"

Claussen laughed. "Hohohohh that's funny. Let me think of some --"

"Well Alex is Santa, now," Sellers grinned. "You even laugh like the guy."

"Santa doesn't exist, silly," Arsenault laughed. 

"No, but Santa Claussen does!" Alex seemed on board with the moniker.

"Jay can be Jars. Jay Arsenault, Jars, and your hair cut makes it easy to remember."

"Thanks Sellers. They called me Artie in hockey, though."

"OOH," Sellers responded, "I like Artie!"

"Nope, you said Jars, and I like Jars."

"In baseball, they call me Babs."

"And my nickname has always been Nina."

"What about Marley?" Claussen asked, and everyone looked at Marley.

"I don't really have a nickname..."

*Marls.*

*No, Bryan.*

"How about just Shepard?" Tiffany offered.

"Hot Sauce," Jay suggested. 

Marley looked at him. "Why Hot Sauce?"

"Because you're quiet, but I've seen you get cranky, you turn up the heat like that unexpected pepper you get when you dip the chip. All of a sudden everything's on fire, but since you're done being mad, you're just fine."

Babs nodded. "Hot Sauce it is."

Anderson no doubt heard the entire conversation, but didn't look back from his seat in the cockpit. 

Soon, they docked with the SSV Osan, the frigate that was taking them to 2175 Aeia. They were due to be in planetary orbit within six hours, so the team decided to catch a nap -- in the shuttle they arrived on. They left the door open during the trip.

There was a sudden jolt, and everyone fell in a pile on the floor of the shuttle. 

"What was that?" Sellers jumped up, and her unit fell in line behind her, all of them running to the Combat Information Center. 

"Brace yourselves, crew, we're about to be hit again!" Another sudden jolt was felt after the ship's pilot made the announcement. 

"What's going on?" Marley asked Anderson.

"Massive solar storm. Completely unexpected." 

The team looked out of a starboard window to see one of the fleet's ships disintegrating from the massive heat. The Gernsback was also on fire, falling toward the uncharted planet. 

"We need to get out of here, now!" The commander yelled, grabbing an "oh shit" handle that protruded from the ceiling. Marley and company followed suit, bracing themselves for yet a third wave of flares. 

"Oh, God," Babs gasped, "The Gernsback is in flames!"

Another announcement over the intercom: "Prepare for immediate FTL transfer." 

The ship suddenly lurched forward, and before the unit could reason with the speed, it stopped. 

"Stay here, everyone," Anderson ordered. "I will be right back."

They observed three ships outside the windows, but no Gernsback. They originally met up with five ships of all shapes and sizes, and two of them were Alliance. The other three were privately owned. 

Marley's heart was pounding. "You guys okay?" she asked, clutching to the chest piece of her armor. 

"Yeah, I'm good," Nina answered.

"Me too," Santa added.

"Me three." Jars.

"I am as well," Babs rounded out the five. 

"Good," Marley replied. "We're missing two ships."

Anderson returned from the bridge. "Board the shuttle, you have a new mission."

"Just like that?" Marley was half shocked, half worried. "What about the Gernsback?"

"They're sending rescue teams to the area. As soon as the storms subside, they'll go in. I know you're concerned, but try to stay focused."

Everyone boarded the shuttle, and an eerie silence had befallen the team. 

"Alright everyone, listen up," Anderson began, wedging between Nina and Marley. "We're headed back to Earth, and this time, I cannot stress how important it is to remain quiet about what you all just saw at Aeia. This is a highly classified situation, due to the panic it could bring about. That being said, our next mission is located in south-central Africa, a barren area, mostly tribal but still sparse, with very little communication except for a passing satellite once every twelve hours. A nearby city has been suffering an overwhelming number of abductions, and so far, four hundred people have gone missing. Underground channels have a trail that goes silent just southeast of the city, and we're dropping you twenty miles southeast of that trail's final registered point. Alpha Team, the other half of your ICT squad, is fifty miles east of your drop point. When you land, you will establish communication with them, and they will fill you in on the rest. Understand?"

"Yes sir!" They responded in unison.


	5. Wastelands, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The abrupt end of the ICT Trainees' survey mission to Aeia led them to a new mission back on Earth. What would happen in the barren deserts of Central Africa?

The shuttle reached the dusty ground, and the five soldiers jumped out, with Marley in the lead. There was indeed a trail leading northwest and southeast, and according to the readouts on Marley's helmet, there was what appeared to be a settlement five kilometers due south. It was just beyond a shaggy tree line, barely visible from the trail, if at all. The soldiers hiked the distance to the edge of the settlement: four buildings and seven completely destroyed cars, mostly by age rather than explosions or gunfire. 

"Babs, you and Jars take the south buildings, I'm gonna take Santa and Nina to these over here."

The two did as told, entering one building with pistols at ready. 

Marley, Nina, and Santa all entered a second building. 

"Mark this one off the list of possible retirement homes," Nina quipped.

"Yeah, no shit," Santa agreed.

The only thing in the building, which was a makeshift group housing unit, was trash and rat droppings, as well as a dead and dried out coyote carcass. "That's just sick," Marley said. "Bonus is that it's so old, it no longer stinks."

They checked the second building to find similar results, and that one had a massive hole in the ceiling. "Hey," Santa called, "this place has a sunroof!"

"Ha ha." Marley said, then started chuckling for real. 

"Yo, uh, Hot Sauce..." 

"Come at me, Babs," she replied.

"I think we have a stable unit over here, come check it out."

The trio met up with Babs and Jars, who were standing in a dirty, but sturdy building that had two rooms and an in-tact ceiling. 

Marley checked the two room unit, most likely a small convenience store in a past life from the looks of the debris and the fact that there was a single gas pump by what used to be a road. "Alright, let's drop our gear." 

"I think we can set up here, and nobody would know," Jars suggested.

"I think you're right," Nina placed the comms pack on the ground, and they used their omnitools to minifacture enough prefabricated plastic and bolts to put together a table. "And this is why we had to bring seventy pounds of omnigel: to build furniture."

"Well," Jars smirked, "you always wanted to be an interior designer."

"Laugh it up, Artie," she smiled back. 

"No, seriously," Marley insisted, "Nina, set this room up, we'll help build it. Then make flats for the sleeping bags so we don't have to sleep directly on the floor."

"Aye aye, Ma'am," she said, and suddenly, the tedious work of building small pieces for larger wholes became fun. 

Babs and Marley built a water farm, which was essentially a large tin pot with an inverted spout that was designed to create condensation from the air and trap the beads of liquid inside. Jars created a dual monitor communication system, and Santa set up a kitchen unit and the small solar array to power both. Just to be safe, he built a small wind turbine as well (this was the kind that you could hand turn, and it would power an hour's worth of energy if both the make-shift kitchen and comms system were using maximum power. Just for fun, he built a shortwave radio to catch news updates and other events.

"That's incredible!" Marley looked at the layout of the place -- three chairs, three makeshift beds, a working kitchen area, three tables, one with the computers and radio on it, and even more exciting was the soundproof insulation Nina had put together to line the walls. In six hours' time, the place went from an aged dump, destined to become like the others, to a temporary base. And their omnitools could turn it all back into omnigel when it was time to move on. 

 

Jay sat down at the comms table. "Alpha team, this is Delta, come in."

"This is Alpha team, good to hear from you, Delta. Send coordinates, and we can relay the briefing."

"Roger, coords sent, go ahead."

"Trafficking reports suggest ground vehicles -- vans -- travelling along our corridor once a day...night...and they turn due south immediately after passing our location. We've managed to throw a homing device on their vehicle, but the tracker wouldn't stick, and we tried twice. The homing location is currently out of our calling area, and we're waiting for word to move closer."

"This could be a false flag, Alpha," Marley suggested. 

"We're positive it's the traffickers. The van passes through our area into town with two people in it. It leaves with up to ten at a time."

"So they pick up people but never bring them back. Call me Lieutenant Obvious. What about numbers? Do we have any estimate as to the number of people involved in this?"

"Negative."

Marley looked away from the receiver. "Shit," she muttered under her breath.

"We're set up as a mobile unit," Alpha continued. "We can pick up and move at a moment's notice. 

"I understand, but I don't want you five to travel to a spot and find that there are hundreds waiting to gun you down." She paced the room in deep thought, but she already knew what had to be done. "Do they know you're out there?"

"Negative."

 

"Good. Rest up. It gets busy at zero hour. I will report at that time with our plan."

The five made a quick dinner using their MRE kits, a bland and cold "sausage and egg" medley, a little bit of ketchup, and lukewarm water. Jars found the audio of a television show on shortwave, and Marley leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. 

*You're going to send them all in, aren't you...*

*Yeah. Yeah I am.*

*Well, shit.*

*I'm a sniper, Bryan, I can handle it.*

*It seems counterintuitive, though -- dangerous.*

*Look, Delta is closer to the point of interest, and we've set up in the middle of nowhere. So if I send my unit, they have an better chance to flank. Besides, the intent is to scout and report, not attack, and I can stay behind and relay the reports back to Operations. It will work.*

*If you say so.*

*Thanks for the vote of confidence.*

*Why don't you keep one with you? That way --*

*Absolutely not, Bryan. I'm hidden, they may need all the firepower they can get.*

Marley drifted off to sleep with Nina close behind, and Nina woke first, letting Babs and Jars catch some shut eye. Claussen followed suit after Marley woke up, and somewhere around 2300 hours, they were all awake. 

"Okay everyone, I'm sending all of you to Alpha. When you get there, take wide flank around the homing signal. See what you can find. I'm staying behind to relay the data back to Ops. Two rules: don't be seen, and don't be heard. Leng is our best bet for forward recon, so I'll tell Coonrod to have him take point. Be on your guard, and I'll be ready to move if I need to."

"Isn't that dangerous? Leaving you here?" Nina was worried about her idea.

"I'm a sniper, I can handle it."

"I trust you, Hot Sauce," Jars affirmed her. "You don't get caught, either."

At Zero Hour, the four started for Alpha's location, leaving Marley alone. It took them almost seven hours to get to their location, which was right at sunrise. The shortwave radio was on very low volume, and the day's news was reciting information on an assassination attempt on a high-ranking public official, as well as a kickbacks scandal that Nashan Stellar Dynamics was involved in. 

Marley found a protein bar in her pack and ate it, and washed it down with a drink from her canteen. As she was putting the lid back on it, she heard a vehicle approaching. She quickly turned off anything that made noise or emitted light, put on her helmet, and grabbed her rifle. 

She peeked cautiously over the window, seeing a dark red van with painted windows pull up next to one of the dilapidated buildings, two men in greenish armor jumped out with guns up, and funneled six people with bags over their heads into the building. She thought about making a move, but thought better of it, instead waiting to see what they would do, next. 

"Shepard, this is Alpha, um that homing signal is coming from your location..."

"Shh." Was all she said, turning the volume down on her ear piece.

"HEY JESSE," one of the soldiers shouted, "DID YOU SAY SOMETHING ABOUT A SHEPHERD?"

"NO."

"I SWEAR I JUST HEARD --"

"YOU DIDN'T HEAR SHIT, RAY, WE'RE THIRTY MILES FROM EVERYTHING."

"Okay, dude, whatever," he mumbled. 

Marley kept very still and quiet as they stood outside the building they sent their hostages into, then after about five minutes, they jumped into the van and left towards Alpha's direction. All she could think about was getting her omni tool implanted like everyone else. New fad or not, at least people couldn't hear you through a neural transceiver.

"Make flank-ready," she relayed, "two armed and armored men just dropped off six hostages into one of the nearby buildings, and now they're headed your direction. I'm going to go check out the building they were left in, see where they went."

"We're watching for them, and you be careful." Coonrod replied. 

"Yeah, and they heard you over my comms," 

"Oh shit."

"Let me know what happens. Shepard out." She got up from her hiding place in the makeshift comms center and snuck across the dirt road to the other two buildings. When she got to the entrance, she switched the Mantis for her Kessler. With pistol ready, she flung herself into the doorway.

It was empty. 

"What the hell?" 

She opened her omnitool's scanner to find any hidden latches or doors, and found one in the floor. 

*So they sweep everything to the side, open this trap door, put them down there, then sweep everything back over it.*

*Yeah, and no doubt there's going to be similar traps in similar ghost towns in this region.*

*The old dead coyote really threw me off, I guess. I should have thought of this.*

*Coyote or not, I'd think you were involved if you figured that out, Marls.*

*No, I really should have thought about looking.*

*Don't be so hard on yourself. You found and entrance. Get back to the comms station and relay the information to base.*

*Yes sir.* Marley quickly ran across the path and into their communication center, typing frantically about her discovery. After patching coordinates to the message, she sent the message off to Operations, with a carbon copy sent to Coonrod and Leng. *Now what?*

*I don't think it's safe for you to stay here, Marley. Destroy this place and get out of here.*

She sent a message to Coonrod and Leng, letting them know she'd be headed their direction soon, but not to wait for her. *I fucked this up, didn't I?*

*Not at all,* Bryan replied. *Just get rid of what you don't need -- convert it to omnigel, hide it, cover it up, whatever, but get out of here fast.*


	6. Wastelands, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another tragic end to a mission as Marley Shepard has her first encounter with Cerberus.

She began breaking as much of the material down as she could, and about thirty five pounds of omnigel were salvaged. There were three flats left. She kicked a pile of rubbish and animal waste over it, and started heading south according to her omnitool's GPS. 

As time went by, she removed the outer layer of her hardsuit's chest piece and put it in her pack, then the carbon-weave shirt came off after another few miles, and eventually she was in a tank top and her armored pants. Her dog tags jangled every now and then, so she stuck them under her tank top. Before too long, her hair was becoming heavy with sweat, so she cut her pony tail off and buried it. 

At sunset, she came to a treeline -- the desert she was walking in was barren -- not even an animal, and this oasis-like treeline that stretched the length of the horizon was lush, green, and she could smell the humidity. Off in the very far distance, she saw a mountain. 

She took the pause of time to sit next to a tree and put her hardsuit back on. "Alpha," she spoke into the communication device on her helmet, "Have you come to the treeline yet?"

"Yes, but you are much farther east than us. Hold your position one mile south into the woods. We'll be there in thirty minutes"

"Roger that." She walked one more mile into the forested area, which was filled with birds and animal noises, and who knows what was further in. Where she could see for miles before, she was now stuck with only several yards of visual distance. She was tired, but she wasn't going to rest -- not yet. There was little time between this moment and when Alpha was due to her position, though something was interfering with her GPS location. "Alpha, you there?"

"Go ahead Delta." 

"Leng, what's your ETA?" 

"I'm with Tiger Team following the homing signal, Bear Team should already be at your location."

"Well they're not."

"That's odd...keep me updated."

"Roger, you stay safe, Kai."

"You, too, Shepard. Leng out."

She noticed some flashes of light against metal in the distance. Using the scope of her sniper rifle, she saw four figures coming her direction. *That has to be Alpha,* she thought while finding a position to fire from in case it wasn't. There was a thick patch of vines and shrubs to her left, so she dropped her pack and crouched behind it. 

"SHEPARD!" A voice called. "BE READY!" 

The voice didn't sound like anyone she knew. It could have been Easterling, but she doubted it. "COONROD," she called back preparing to fire. "THAT YOU?" 

Just then, bullets peppered her armor from behind her, one of which tore between plating and lodged into her right forearm by the elbow, shredding and burning her flesh as it bore into her muscle. "FUCK!" A flock of blue and grey kingfishers erupted from the area. She dove into a bush for cover, took aim, and fired back, oblitering the head of one of her attackers. She quickly reloaded her rifle and fired again, hitting this one in the neck. "Shit, I missed!"

*Pretty sure a neck shot will get the job done in this scenario!* Bryan assured her. *Two on your right, thirty yards out, coming in quick! MOVE MOVE MOVE*

She pivoted to her right as she reloaded and fired a hasty shot at one of the two, hitting in the arm. "DAMMIT!" 

*Concentrate, Marley! You got this!*

She reloaded and mentally slowed down. Shots were being fired at her from the south and east, and she was facing east. She took aim, letting the bullets and tracers ping off her armor and shields, then gently squeezed the trigger, watching her bullet all the way into the skull of another enemy. Another reload, another aim, run for better cover, aim again, fire. The last one fell without her effort, and suddenly, all was quiet. 

Bear Team arrived just in time. 

"Geez, Marley, everything okay?" Sgt Coonrod asked as he checked the blood on her armor. 

"I could have gotten that last one," she quipped with a smirk while she took off the top pieces of her armor again.

"Well we weren't going to let you gamble on the job." Sellers flashed her omnitool at Marley's wound, providing a little pain relief and a temporary skin-like covering. "Coonie, go check the bodies out, see what you can find."

"Yes, ma'am."

Sellers finished applying a bandage to Marley's arm, then made her sit down. "You've lost a lot of blood, girl!" 

"Yeah, I know."

Arsenault showed them a bullet mark on Marley's helmet. "Look at the dent." 

"Damn!" Sellers helped Marley put her gear back on. "Now I'm really glad we got here when we did!"

"Hey!" Coonrod yelled, "Come check this out!" 

The three of them went to Coonrod's location, where he was kneeling by one of the bodies. "According to my omnitool metadata, this armor isn't manufactured by any of the companies on file. This stuff is unique and highly efficient -- look how thin it is!" 

"That's definitely adaptive nanofiber plating. Very expensive stuff." Sellers ripped a shoulder plate off of the body, then noticed a badge on the base layer of the person's outfit. "What is Cerberus?" 

Arsenault tapped the name into his omnitool. "Nothing found."

"I bet nothing found. They must be a new organization or everything on them is clearance above our level." Marley looked closer. "Says the name is Timothy Jackson. Former Alliance, MIA two years ago..." She pointed at the other body. "Get info on that one. Sellers, let's go ID the other ones. 

"Mark Smith, Cat-6 Discharge."

"Barton Wardale, Cat-6 Discharge."

"Paul Masterson, MIA."

"Alex Stone, MIA."

"Mark Breen, wanted on terrorism charges."

They looked at each other. "We need to follow up with Tiger team," Marley declared, making sure her Mantis was ready to shoot. "Get your weapons ready."

The four of them fanned out, maintaining no less than ten yards between each other, and headed toward Tiger Team's constantly moving location. The homing signal from the van was dead ahead of them by fifty or so yards. Marley wanted to tell them to stop moving, but she had faith that Leng wouldn't aggress unless he absolutely had to.

Coonrod lit a cigarette, much to Marley's shock, but the stress was understandable. "What," he inquired, "is there a problem?"

"No, Coonie," she sighed, "carry on."

"Bear Team, this is Tiger Team, what's your status?" It was Claussen.

"Two more clicks and we'll be there," Marley responded. "What's your situation?"

"Leng took everyone else into the facility. Said he's going to try to negotiate a deal."

She clenched a fist and looked for something to punch, then loosened her hand. "Dammit."

"I'm waiting on the northern cliff by the base of the rampAHHH!!" There was significant sounds of rustling and screeching, along with Claussen yelling "OOF! UNGH!!! ERK!!!"

The four began running, and they spotted the low cliff he was talking about.

"Claussen!!!! REPORT!! WHAT HAPPENED???"

"I've just been shot. I'm ... I'm okay..."

"Leng? Where are you?" Marley persisted with questions. "Claussen! What just happened?" 

"They turned comms off. I'm okay, I just fell off the cliff."

"Oh god, okay, we're on our way."

"Fuck, this better not be an ambush." Sellers switched her automatic rifle for her SMG and took point as they approached Claussen's crumbled frame. He was doubled over in pain, lying on the ground. 

"Let's get your gear off." Sellers helped him out of the top part of his hardsuit, then made him lay flat while she observed the gaping hole in is abdomen. "Jesus, someone got you good."

"Not gonna lie, this one hurts." He pulled his shirt up over his head while she applied medigel, but the wound was too deep for it to take hold. 

"We're gonna need an evac."

Coonrod stood and aimed his Lancer. "HEY --" the look of anger on his face turned to shock. "Kai? Is that --" Leng was covered in blood. "What happened to you?"

"I'm fine. There was a gun fight, and everyone else was killed. But I know where they're taking the abductions."

Marley jumped up from her kneeling position, face awash with bewilderment. "What the hell? What do you mean everyone died?"

"We had a gun fight with the mercenaries. There were about twenty of them. I'm the only one left. There's about two hundred abductees in the cells, and a tunnel system that seems to lead to three other satellite cells."

"Son of a --" 

*Marley, calm down.*

"Oh, god," Sellers took a knee. "We have to call for mass evac."

"Yeah," Marley said, helping Leng wipe the blood off his face and helmet. "This one's going to hurt later."

Coonrod helped Claussen get comfortable as they radioed to be picked up. A tear fell from his stone face as Marley repeated that they only needed one shuttle for their team.


	7. 2177:  Akuze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In 2176, Marley Shepard completed the ICT program on an asteroid with Kai Leng and Tiffany Sellers. Claussen was late due to his injuries sustained in Africa, but he completed the training as well. Coonrod decided he was done at level four and accepted an invitation to be a trainer at the school.
> 
> After the program was completed, Shepard took the rest of the year to complete her Master's degree in biotechnology. Her first mission when she returned was on Akuze.

The colony was silent. So silent, in fact, that Marley could hear the high winds blowing miles before she felt it push against her hardsuit. Her newly formed squad of 51 was sent to Akuze to find out why the colony's inhabitants suddenly stopped responding to any communication. By all accounts prior to arrival, it was as if they put the outside world on mute. When they got there, they discovered there was not a single soul in sight, save for bugs and an occasional pyjack. 

It was supposed to be a simple run and fix mission.

The sun was going down, and they decided to make camp inside of a handful of bi-level pods that were joined by mutual walkways. Half of them slept while the other half kept watch and continued looking for answers to the colonists' disappearance. It was a few hours later that they felt the ground tremble, then heard sounds of the ground shaking and breaking. Then they heard screams from their squad mates. They got up as fast as they could, a lot of them rushing out to assist, only to be swallowed or pulled below by giant worm-like creatures (called Thresher Maws)…

"Shepard!!! Get out of there!!"

Marley felt the top pod she was in collapse downward and into the level below. She could hear the sounds of bodies being crushed beneath it, and she screamed in confused panic.

"Marley, we gotta move!" Bryan echoed the person on the other end of her neurotransmitter. 

"I'm moving! I'm moving!" She grabbed the nearest weapon, an M-7 assault rifle, and leapt out of the pod, landing on bare earth. 

Almost instantly, a maw shot through the ground in front of her, close enough to touch, while it passed toward the next set of pods. She began to dodge to the right, only to be launched twenty feet in the air by another maw whose wide open jowls missed her by inches. She tucked and rolled when she landed, but it still took the wind out of her. A third maw came out of the ground from about 10 feet in front of her, and came right for her. She ran straight towards it and began firing as she spun to the left, leaving a perfect line of punctures in the maw's side. The fine spray of fluid from the beast ate the finish off of her hardsuit.

She spied two soldiers in the middle of the common area in the center of the colony, one of which was on the ground, grievously injured.

"Tiff!!" She shouted. "Coonie, I'm coming!" She was almost there when another maw thrust forth through the ground, shooting up at least fifteen feet before turning and dropping straight down on top of them. It bit down on Coonrod, severing him in half. "OH GOD!!" 

She began pumping bullets toward the maw, but one leapt in between her and the other one. Olive green blood and goop exploded from its tight skin, covering her in the rancid acid. Some of it got in her mouth, nose, and eyes. She began convulsing and eventually threw up, but she didn't stop running.

Corporal Toombs, a seasoned veteran of ground support missions, saw Shepard and began to run towards her. "I see you, lieutenant!"

"No, stay there, Toombs! They can't sense you if you don't move!"

"Fuck that, I'm on my way!" He started running, but was grabbed and pulled below the dirt almost as quickly as he bolted.

There was a small circular slab of cement several yards away, about fifteen feet across, with a large empty crate in it. All she could think about was getting to that crate. She fired defensive shots into a maw that leapt out in front of her. There had to be at least six maws ravaging the place. They all seemed to be working as a team to devour every soldier in the area. When another one tore through the ground, it bit the sole of her boot, ripping it apart from her armored suit. Urine soaked her crotch and legs, but she didn't stop running.

She reached the slab, finally, and dove into the crate, then curled down upon her knees, eyes tightly closed. She was too scared to cry, but her body trembled as if she were. She heard the sound of a shuttle, and over her radio, she heard an officer calling for any survivors. She couldn't respond. Somehow, they saw her in the crate, and encouraged her to try. Marley peeked fearfully from her hiding place and saw the shuttle hovering over the landing area, a good twenty or so yards from her place. 

"You gotta do this, Shep, come on…" Bryan kept telling her. "You are not going to die today. You must move or you will die…" 

She found and chucked a cinder block in the opposite direction, and a handful of maws descended upon it from the earth. It was enough to give her the courage to run the distance -- to run for her life.

She climbed into the shuttle, and the door closed as it took off. She returned to fetal position on the shuttle floor. When an officer put his hand on her back, she tightened the ball she was in and began screaming. One officer wrapped her in a blanket while another held her tightly in it. 

"You're okay, Shepard," she told her. "We're going home." She felt a slight prick in her upper arm, and everything went dark.

After an hour into the trip, Marley woke up. She must have passed out, as she was now laying flat on the floor, a clothing off, completely wrapped in warm blankets, and decently cleaned up. There was a banana bag intravenously inserted into the back of her right hand, and she was slightly sedated, as well. The woman who restrained her earlier was sitting by her head.

"You okay, Lieutenant?"

"I don't...know." She was still out of it.

"What happened?"

"Maws…"

"It was terrible, we saw the end of it."

"Who made it?"

"You were the only one."

"What?"

"I'm sorry, Shepard, nobody made it out alive."

"What about...colonists…"

"Still gone. No idea what happened to them."

"God...no..."

"Get some rest, we're due at Arcturus very soon."

Marley felt a tear fall from her eye and down her temple. She could see a nebula through the window, but there wasn't enough of a view to know which one. It was beautiful, though. Red and blue with green blended in and around it. She thought about her squadron. Gone. Perished. Demolished. And how they're at least not suffering, now, no matter how terrified they must have been. And now, they're stars, too. When she was a child, her mother told her that when a person dies, God makes a new star in their place. When many die, the stars are made close together so that they will never be alone.

"You okay?" The woman asked her.

Marley went to reply, but her thumb was in her mouth. "Sorry. I don't know."

"Want me to give you another shot of sedative? It'll help you sleep until we get you to the hospital."

"Take it, Marley," Bryan told her.

Marley looked out the window, again, and back at the woman, then nodded. After a moment, she returned her thumb to her mouth and nodded. Within seconds, she was asleep.

\--

The next time she opened her eyes, Marley was clean as a whistle, hair still slightly damp. She was laying in a hospital room that had a view of the same nebula.

"Great view of Omega, isn't it?" Marley jumped a bit at the woman's voice. She was an older woman with bright green eyes and a silver pageboy hair cut. "I'm so sorry, dear, I didn't mean to startle you." She placed a data pad on a table by the bed and extended her hand, which Marley took in appreciation.

"It's okay."

"I'm Karin Chakwas, and I'll be seeing you through your recovery. You are physically fine, aside from a few scrapes and bruises, so most of my work is done. But your mind is going to be what needs the most attention. I'm here to encourage you to talk it out as best as you can. Surviving something like that is heroic, but it is still traumatic."

'To survive?' Marley thought. 'Hardly heroic.' "I pissed myself. That's not heroic."

"I'd probably have shat myself, too, had I been in your shoes."

"Shoe. The other one was bitten off."

"But not your leg. Don't minimalize your tenacity, but capitalize on it."

"Hah. Thanks."

\--

It had been two weeks since the attack on Akuze. Marley was recovering quite nicely, as she was able to discuss the more intimate details with Dr. Chakwas, a commanding officer, and a chaplain. Getting the details out seemed to be all she had to do, though she wished there was some way to honor the memory of those who fell.

"Doctor," Marley began. "May I ask you some questions?"

Dr. Chakwas lit up. "You want to visit?"

"Yes, if you don't mind."

"Not at all, dear." She pulled a chair up to her bedside and leaned forward. "What would you like to talk about?"

"What brought you to Arcturus?"

"The ship I was assigned to was decommissioned, and I'm on furlough. Lucky for me and the rest of the crew, we were simply reassigned, and I was asked to remain on the station. While I'm here, I'm learning a bit about intra- and extra-species medicine."

"How long have you been in?"

"Since I graduated med school back in…2154, I think."

"Wow, that's as long as I've been alive."

Dr. Chakwas laughed. "Thanks for reminding me of my age!"

"I think it's commendable that you've been here that long."

"What about you, Lieutenant, when did you sign on?"

"When I turned eighteen, four years ago."

"And you're already an officer, not bad."

"I think I was lucky. My home was attacked by pirates, and I finished high school through a military program, then I went through basic training and split time on earth doing basic patrols and Officer's school. Akuze was my second interstellar mission."

"Oh, I see. Career-oriented, then?"

"I don't have much else going for me, Doctor."

"You have you going for you, Lieutenant. That is something many people can't say they have."

"I guess so."

"You have a strong will to live that is so rare, even among the elite. You said it yourself. You rooted yourself into at least trying to get to that shuttle, and you did. And two weeks later, you're already moving around, visiting with other patients, speaking candidly with counseling staff…you're quite an amazing young woman, if I may say so."

Marley blushed. "Careful, Doctor, you might give me an ego."

Dr. Chakwas patted her on the leg. "I believe you have earned one, by this point."


End file.
